♪ >> this is "taking stock" for thursday, may 15, 2014. i'm pimm fox. theme is trail blazer. areh mutter and mudderella blazing a trail when it comes to adventurous fitness. we find out how getting down in the mud is creating a business boom. plus, michael sam, a trailblazer in football. i will speak with the agent for the first openly gay player drafted by an nfl team. and solar roadways -- it is

trying to change the energy market. details ahead. all that ahead over the next hour, but first, let's get headlines from my radio cohost, carol massar. >> we got some retail news to tell you about -- jc penney stock blazing in after-hours. share.a loss of $1.16 a analysts predicted $1.22 a share. nordstrom posted first-quarter revenue and profit that topped analyst estimates. the company relied on e-commerce sales to drive up sales to nearly $3 billion. war and -- warren buffett's berkshire hathaway disclosed its share of verizon. the stake is valued at more than $528 based on today's -- more than $528 million based on

today's closing price. >> thanks very much. let's get more insight on jcpenney results and its after-hours stock surge. joining me is craig johnson, the founder and president of customer growth partners. tell us your reaction to today's report from jcpenney. >> we were not surprised by it because we have 16 people across the country in the stores every week, and we saw the increase in traffic. and the fact that the average ticket is moving up, the long, slow rebound that jcpenney is gathering steam, and the company is poised to -- not quite breaking into black ink yet, but gross margins, which had been in the high 20's are now nicely into the 30's, and calm sales of and a off a low bottom nice improvement. >> can you describe the strategy that jcpenney is implementing?

>> there are going a couple of different things. first of all, you had to stabilize -- you had to write the ship andight solve some of the problems of the ron johnson legacy. then you had to recapture the lost customer, which means in a sense back to basics in terms of offering the customer what she wanted in terms of style, in terms of fit, in terms of the kind of product, the balance they have in terms of their own labels, private labels as well as national brands as well as improving the home department. he has been working on all new stuff, kind of like locking and what the but it is customer wanted. along with cost controls, which has always been a forte of his, they are slowly adopting the kind of steps that are necessary to return the ship to health. >> as far as jcpenney goes,

we've got their results. can we read anything into the results of other retailers based on what we are hearing from jcpenney? >> not so much because jcpenney an anomalousit of company. if you look at the rest of the numbers, whether it is from cy's, most particularly walmart this morning, and in the spate of retailers about to report, this has been a very difficult quarter across most retail, particularly in the discretionary categories, notably apparel and department stores. there's a lot of weakness out there. is a reflection of the overall economy, which remains very weak, but a reflection of a company that was down so far, it's like the old country songs -- when you are down this far, anything looks like up, and this is now looking like up. >> i want to thank you for joining us. all right, i want to talk about

the broader market now. stocks sold off today. the dow jones industrial average losing more than 1%, down 167 points, and also the s&p 500 losing a little less than 1%. i want to get some insight from the founder and managing partner of westwood capital, and chad morganlander, managing partner with stifel nicolaus. is there any particular reason you are ascribing to today's selloff? >> geopolitical concerns, perhaps concern about second-quarter growth, considering the fact that the first quarter was an absolute disaster. besides that, much of that is perhaps what contributed to it. earnings growth also is potentially a concern. we have valuations at this point based off of our estimate of 115 dollars in earnings for the s&p. the market is trading around 16

times forward multiple, so it is not particularly cheap. , is the economy that the federal reserve and janet yellen are watching different than the economy that stockmarket investors are watching? >> the stock market is also looking at the bond market right now, and it has been rallying enormously. yields have dropped. yields were over 3% on the 10 year, and they touched down below 2.50% today. that is a message focused on issues such as global deflation, which you have seen again in europe today. we saw very bad numbers come out of europe on the gdp side as well. >> industrial production in the united states. >> industrial production in the united states, but beyond just to mr. numbers, which are mixed -- frankly, you're getting good news and bad news -- beyond just domestic numbers, the fact is if you look at what is going on globally in the world, we are

still dealing with this fundamental issue of excess supply and insufficient demand both in the united states and in europe. europe was expected to rebound faster. the bond market reacted to that and is reacting to the prospect of the ecb cutting interest rates as well, so that makes u.s. bonds more attractive. we just hadander, record highs for the dow jones industrial average. we have just seen stocks move higher this week. is this important of a bigger selloff? >> you know, look, we had a pretty good down payment on future growth last year with the 30% return. five percent to 10% correction in the market would not shock any of us considering the fact that the federal reserve is curtailing that liquidity program. nonetheless, we believe that is moderating or decelerating. we believe u.s. growth will accelerate and earnings growth will be up.

our forecast is that, yes, you can get a little selloff, but total return in the equity markets around 7% to 8% this year would not be a shock. >> thank you for joining us. the mobile app car-hailing service uber is said to be in talks to raise new financing, which could value the company at $10 billion. for more, i want to go to san francisco. "bloomberg west" editor-at-large cory johnson joins us. give us the review. >> uber is choosing to go for another private round of investment. that would be a monstrous valuation for a private company. also interesting that they are choosing not to go the public route, although some any companies are rushing to do ipo's right now -- so many companies are rushing to do ipo's right now. >> they already have many

investors. goldman sachs is an investor as the venture capital firms. >> this is a hot investment. the company has been revolutionary in its use of technology. among the reasons it has been so incredible is that it uses the same technology for the consumer as for the provider. that is, the driver of the uber ios to respond to a consumer using an iphone or ipad or android phone. thisotion of using consumer-facing technology in a vertical integration from provided the customer is a revolutionary thing and an interesting model. one of the interesting things about it, and i think it suggests great financial leverage here, is that as demand increases on the consumer side, prices go up, and it creates more supply, more drivers willing to jump off the couch and jump into their car to pick up some customers, some passengers.

the notion of a product where supply directly conforms to demand is a fascinating one. citywe understand from the of san francisco, for example, is that the number of black cars from the city has more than -- or i should say, whatever the number was, there are twice as many cars driving uber alone in the city. that suggests this service creates supply where it did not exist before for customers that did not exist before. >> want to thank you very much. thanks very much for joining us, talking about uber, potential valuation $10 billion. coming up next, we look at the ceremony today surrounding the opening of the 9/11 memorial here in new york city. this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. ♪

than 12 years has passed since almost 3000 people were killed at the world trade center in the september 11 terrorist attacks. president obama joint victims' families to dedicate the national 9/11 memorial museum. he recalled the true legacy of the attacks. it is an honor for us to join in your memories, to recall and to reflect, but above all to reaffirm the true spirit of 9/11 sacrifice,mpassion, and to enshrine it forever in the heart of our nation. , was there one message the president was trying to get across today? >> i think a couple. it was a somber set of remarks

by the president for a very somber event, but i think what the president was trying to accomplish is to things -- one, he really wanted to discuss the way new york as a city, the way the u.s. as a country has really kind of recovered in the last 12 years and moved forward, but he also -- and this is something you hear from officials that were involved in the speech writing process going into the stash wanted to make sure people remember 9/11. there are a lot of people now who do not remember or were not even alive then, which seems so foreign for those of us who were there or remember that time. the white house and the president specifically want to make sure the point of this museum is so that people never forget how searing that moment was in u.s. history. >> this happened war than seven years before president obama took office, but the attacks remain central to many of his policies. the u.s./11 changed presidency? >> dramatically.

when he campaigned for the presidency, there was an acknowledgment of what 9/11 had changed. either from the security aspect of things, with two wars going on, and even on the budget in economics side of things, things have really changed, but i don't think he ever had a sense -- and white house officials will tell you this as well -- how much things had changed until he set foot in that office. issues like intelligence and security, things that have become hot button issues, stem from 9/11. the presidency has changed not only for president obama, but likely for presidencies to follow for years to come. >> does this also cast a shadow over the relationship with congress? >> when you look at the change in executive power that resident bush and his top officials pushed forward in the wake of always a natural tension between the executive and legislative branch, but

without question, the changes in the direction the executive 9/11h power has gone since has caused more tension. you saw president bush trying to grab as much power as he could. president obama, while saying that he was going to move away from a lot of those policies, hasn't. that's the way things are and that's the way things will continue to be going forward all because of september 11. >> i want to thank you very much. "market makers" host stephanie ruhle had a chance to sit down with mike bloomberg, former new york city mayor, majority owner of bloomberg lp. >> what is the most striking part of the museum? >> to me, when i saw one of the fire engines, and i wondered what happened to those guys on the fire engine. it brings it back to human beings. i did not know many people who died.

one of my employees -- three of my employees, who i did not really know, young people, died. the son of a guy i worked with died. there's a handful of others, but that is what brings it to this was all about people and ideas and freedoms for those left behind. deceased to the make sure that those left to hide have a future and have what we want for everybody in america . >> where were you on 9/11? >> my campaign headquarters. it was voting day, and the election was canceled for the day and rescheduled three weeks later. i walked with a reporter from where i voted on 82nd street down to my campaign headquarters on 56th street, and i was reading a newspaper, having a

cup of coffee because there was nothing to do. i had already finished campaigning. somebody had a television on, and you could say -- you could see a small plane had hit the world trade center, and you could see the gash across the building, and i said, "that was not a small plane." 20 minutes later in the second plane went and, of course everybody knew. it couldfirst plane, have been a malfunction. who knows what it could have been? the tragedy of the event, i don't think you stopped to think thet how, why, how we get people out of the building, and as soon as the second plane took ways, there was not a surprise that there was the pentagon in shanksville as well. it was obviously a concerted, coordinated attack on freedom. >> that morning he do think at all, "i don't know if i want to be mayor of this city -- that morning, did you think at all,

"i don't know if i want to be mayor of this city?" >> of course not. you become mayor to make a difference, and the more things need to be fixed or decided, it makes the challenge all the greater, and if you are doing it for the right reasons to try to make a difference, you make a bigger difference. makers" anchor stephanie ruhle and mike bloomberg, former new york city mayor, founder and majority owner of bloomberg lp. this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. ♪

now, it is time for our "small to big" segment, and things are going to get a little dirty today. that's because we are going to be looking at a company called tough mudder. tells me hiscutive

biggest challenge was getting the company off the ground. >> it is a challenge you do with your friends. it's about teamwork, camaraderie , having fun. walls, crawlr under barbed wire, runover fields with electrical wires, each of which has 10,000 volts in it. anyone who tells you starting a business is not a very scary thing to do is simply lying to you. my harvard business professors were very clear with me -- "this is a bad idea. people are not going to pay to run in flames, to crawl in the mud." we launched in 2010 with three events. we have a hundred thousand people participating this year, but really, i feel we are just getting started. one of the problems was we were not getting the repeat is this that we wanted. this we wanted. we did some market research and it came out that we needed new

obstacles. we had to take out some of the old obstacles, some of the things that had been most successful for us, and i had a real fear when we did that. one of the obstacles we are excited about for 2014 is vesuvius. it sends you flying through a wall of flames that is six feet tall. is we are starting to get this loyal, tribal following. evennumber is growing quicker than our participant numbers. i used to tell my wife, when we were just getting going, "six months from now, i think things will calm down." i have stopped saying that to her now. is the parentr company of a new isn't trying to draw women participants called of a new event trying to draw women participants called mudderella. cristina devito joins us now.

challengesla participants to find their strong, findwhat means being strong and go after it. we challenge strength, agility, balance, but it is also meant to be a team-based activity. it is meant to be fun. it is for that woman who is looking to do something that is fitness-oriented, that's healthy, that's outside, that is an athletic challenge, but also that it's social, that she can do with her friends, family, significant other, and it's fun. >> it takes place all over the country? >> we have seven infants across the u.s. this year as well as one in the u.k., so we have gone global. which is tremendous for us. we had our first event last year in pennsylvania. we had about 3000 participants come out, and this year, we are anticipating over 60,000, so over 20 times growth. we are just so thrilled that this brand is resonating with participants. >> can you stick around?

we will have more with cristina devito, the chief executive of mudderella. this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. ♪

>> this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. i'm pimm fox. i'm speaking with the chief executive of mudderella, cristina devito, about the booming demand for outdoor fitness. in this case, it comes with a lot of mud. tell us some of the places that you have established mudderella and where you would like to take it from where it is now. >> our first event, like i said, was in pennsylvania last year. we had about 3000 participants. now it is seven infants across the country and one in the u.k. ts across is seven even the country and one in the u.k. we are expecting over 60,000.

we really are expanding across the nation, and it is our goal to keep expanding. we aim to double our events in the u.s. next year, go into new countries, extend in the u.k., test australia and canada. we find there is a lot of demand because it really is the experience and what it stands for, which is empowerment, teamwork, and fun, and that really resonates. >> $59 if you sign up before the actual race. you said it was 149 dollars if you sign up the day of the race at the location. >> yes, there are pricing increases. they start at $59, and over time, they will escalate. >> it is not competitive in the sense that there are trophies for the winners or any of this. and it is a team experience. you cannot do it without the team. >> you can do it without a team, but we really encourage you to go with a team. if you do not have one, it's ok because the mudderellas on

course become your team. >> that's what i was noting because you will not be able to lift your legs and crawl through the mud. >> it's great to have other people enjoying, laughing, encouraging you as you go through it. >> who creates the actual obstacles? do you have a committee that does this? >> we create them, really. i, my teammates -- really, the ideas come from many places. >> what's the most difficult obstacle? >> it really depends. for everybody, there is a different challenge and a different fear you are overcoming. were some people, it is heights. we have wall obstacles that you have to climb up over. there is an obstacle called hat trick where you spring off of a trampoline springboard onto a cargo net, climb up 15 feet and slide down into a slide of muddy water. >> there are some people who that might be good for them. >> a lot of people say, "this is

going to be a lot of fun." a lot of people say, "this is scary, and i am pushing outside of my comfort zone." that is what it is supposed to be -- setting a goal and pushing yourself. >> thank you very much, cristina devito, chief executive of mudderella. playing pro football can be one of the toughest ports. add to that the fact that michael sam is coming into the league as its first openly gay athlete. while some were publicly critical, most of the pros in the game are welcoming him. here is a sampling. >> at the end of the day, it is about being a football player. whatever your sexual preference is, it does not matter to us. in our locker room, we will except you with open arms. as long as you are a good football player, that is what he carried about. >> the st. louis rams have been handling things right. just like michael sam said, a lot of guys are going to -- there's going to be critics. there's going to be lovers, and there's going to be haters. the only thing that is important

is that he can play football. he said it himself, i'm sure he is going to give everything he has got. >> i think the rams did a great job picking up michael sam. besth the organization the of luck. >> if he comes to work and shows that he is about his business, i have no problem with him. >> do you think the locker room is ready for an openly gay athlete? >> if not, they will have to get ready for them. i don't care about his personal life. live their life and do what they do. >> everybody is more focused on winning. nobody is going to be focused on what someone sexual preference is. everybody is just trying to get a super bowl ring. >> if you go out there and play , you canand produce use that your whole career.

you rise above it all. has beenl reaction positive. the miami dolphins safety tweeted out, "omg" and "horrible" after sam was drafted. jones has since been fined for his tweets and has apologized. sam's agent cameron weiss joins us from empire athletes. ray to have you with us. i wonder if you could describe for people that may not be familiar with michael sam, what is his potential for commercial endorsements? >> ever since he came out, i think people have really viewed him as a trailblazer and someone who is fearless. with siftingtasked through the offers that have come for him. as you can see by the limited number of things we've done, we have only chosen a partner people -- partner with -- chosen to partner with people we trust.

that is why you saw that visa spot before the nfl draft. >> cameron, there is a documentary that is going to be made about michael sam, i believe, coming from the oprah winfrey harpo productions. tell us about that. >> this is a documentary put ,ogether by oprah and her team obviously, in conjunction with us, where we are going to go through the trials and tribulations of the first openly gay player as he attempts to make the roster. we have gone to great lengths to make sure that the rams are ok with this and that we will not be interfering at all with mike's activities during training camp. this will take place with his personal life and away from the team. it will include a lot of reflection about what he has been going through and also some of his interpersonal relationships. >> have you heard any reaction from the nfl about this documentary? >> yes, we were in communication with the league office prior to the draft.

for several weeks now about the documentary. mixedsly, there have been reactions, but i think it is important to keep in mind that this is a historical event, and to not document it would be dissident -- doing a disservice to a lot of people. while still allowing mike to focus on football, we at the same time want to capture this event in the day we live in now. when you look at programming around professional sports, you see it all over the place. it is not distracting players. in fact, it is enhancing stories and allowing them to build connections with fans and supporters. >> the sale of michael sam jerseys shows that he is very .opular with the fan base >> definitely. this is something that we anticipated, for sure, based off of responses that we had via social media and through e-mail, and just threw times he has been out amongst the fans. a lot of people were waiting to have this jersey and to display it proudly because they believe messagee stands for a

that they want to associate themselves with. >> cameron, is there any role for michael sam to be a for non-commercial businesses? for example, charities or foundations that may have the same perspective and the same focus that he does? >> definitely. that is something that we are open to. we examine opportunities individually. mike himself has said he does not want to be an activist but instead wants to let his play on the field do the talking. right now, that is our focus, but we certainly are mindful of the things going on in our country at large. mike is a big supporter of equal rights. of course that is important to him as a gay man. >> how does he stay focused and not burn out with all this attention on him being the first openly gay player in the nfl? how does he keep the focus on him playing football? broughthas really soldiers, and he allows us as his team to take the brunt of

all of this. he is a cute and focused on getting in there, blending with the guys and making the squad and showing what he can do as a football player. he knows that his first and foremost the most important thing because without that, there is no platform to do any of the other things he wants to do. >> in your experience, is this an opportunity that really just does not come along ever again? >> not necessarily, but when you are talking about the first to do anything, nowadays, it is a very rare thing in general, so to have the first openly gay football player, of course, that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but do i think there will be other gay players after him? definitely. that is something that has been coming for quite some time and in fact is overdue. >> want to thank you very much for joining us, cameron weiss, talking about michael sam, newly drafted by the st. louis rams. why is a distillery in iowa giving whiskey to its piglet?

" takes you to the animal kingdom next. ♪

>> this is "taking stock" on bloomberg. i'm pimm fox. iowa-basedye, an piglets, has said 25 dry whiskey grains in the hopes whiskey-flavored pork. did you ever think you would be writing a story about pigs consuming the spent grain that was used to make rye whiskey? >> no, but given what is happening with the pork market and whiskey market, i should not be surprised. >> give us the details. what happened? >> ever since january, templeton rye in iowa has been feeding 25 byproduct from

making templeton rye. they are feeding it to the pigs and say it will make them taste somewhat like templeton rye. >> let's understand -- this nothing alcoholic about it. it was used to make rye whiskey, so the pigs are not enjoying any of this whiskey. >> i have a feeling templeton would beg to differ, and it is a kind of expensive, higher-end rye. ?> about $40 a bottle, right >> yeah. >> i was reading something about templeton that should be revealed, which is that they do not necessarily make the rye whiskey in iowa, nor do they kind of make it in a homespun facility. >> they are very shrewd marketers. they understand what is hot now is artisan all spirits -- rt's al spirits.rtisan

they say it is prohibition-aero right, the good stuff al capone used to drink -- prohibition-era rye, the good stuff al capone used to drink, but it is made in indiana. it's pretty transparent. >> what about the farmer raising the stakes? what does he claim to think about all this? >> they claim to have a guy with a phd in swine nutrition, and they have blended the grain with a bunch of other high-end take food, as it were -- high-end pig food, as it were. this is all being done very scientifically, very artisanally, and these pigs will grow to 200 pounds, and they are entertaining inquiries now from people who just want to devour them. >> this is only a one-way trip for the pig. there's no way the templeton folks could use them as a mascot

? >> i don't think so. pretty sure not. >> i want to thank you very much, devin leonard. " is outg "businessweek now. let's move on from pigs to these -- bees. the department of agriculture did a survey of the bee industry. have dropped, but they are still bad enough to drive the keepers out of business. .ore, i'm joined by alan bjerga give us details. what is going on with the bee population? >> you had elevated levels going back the last decade when beekeepers started seeing a disorder when bees will just fly from their hives and never come back. they seem to get disoriented and died. it doubled the death rate in that way it has stayed

since then. we have seen a little push back, but one of the challenges with the survey is that it is voluntary, so you may get a different sample response every year, which means we will have to watch the trend for a few years to see if there really has been a structural change in bee mortality. >> bees do more than just make honey. they are crucial to the agricultural chain. tell us. >> they pollinate about $15 billion worth of crops, everything from apricots and almonds to zucchini, a lot of things that are fun to eat. your fruits and vegetables. but if you take the pollinators away, it becomes a lot less likely for you to get the yield or in some cases, even crops. this is watched very closely, especially in the fruit and vegetable industry. >> what about the chemicals that beeinvolved in the colonies? is there an issue there? >> this is one of the most

controversial parts of the answer to the question of why the bees have been dying. everyone can agree that my tar problem. everyone can change that habitats -- everyone can agree that the change and habitat is a problem. -- everyone can agree that mites are a problem. the european union has actually suspended the use of pesticides for two years, and there's a push for the same thing to happen in the united eight. chemical companies say it will not be any good, but a lot of environmentalists would like to see it. >> i want to thank you very much. us fromrga, joining washington, d.c., checking on our bee population. coming up, i will introduce you to an inventor who made a wood stove that can power your phone next. ♪

than 100are more 60,000 miles of roadway in the united states. most of them are paved with asphalt -- and dreams. but imagine if they were made with solar panels. a campaignays is on on a crowd-funding site called indiegogo. system claimsving to withstand 250,000 pounds of pressure, and it also claims to create electricity and it can melt snow. joining me is the creator, alan creator scott brusaw. how does it work? >> [inaudible] you link these things together and create a parking lot, sidewalk, driveway, roads -- literally, anything under the sun.

>> you have already started to research this in detail with some funding from the u.s. government. tell us where you are. >> we have gotten our second phase of funding from the federal highway administration. we built an original prototype, and with the second phase, we built a parking lot and our electronics lab that is collecting energy right now. >> at what scale could this road be produced? >> we are hoping to go nationwide and worldwide. >> what kind of backing would you need to do this? what about the manufacturing process? >> we are looking for some deep-pocket investors to get to that point. right now, we are just trying to get a team of investors to get together a team of production. that is what the campaign is about. >> not only can it generate electricity, but it can also melt snow, correct? >> correct.

we installed it in december, january, and it kept the snow off of our parking lots. >> where can we see this in operation? >> right now, the only prototype we have is at our facility in idaho. the city of sandpoint, idaho, is trying to get the funding together to do some parking lots and walkways, so that will probably be our first public installation. >> i want to thank you very much for joining me. roadways.aw of solar now from creating a smart grid to going off the grid, a stove that can cook and charge your electronic devices powered by would. already raiseds more than $280,000 on the crowd-funding site kickstarting. olite's ceo joins me now. this is more than just a stove, right? >> absolutely. to bring alltarted

the benefits of modern energy to world. the most people do not know this, but about half the planet still cooks on open fire, and the smoke from those fires kills more people than hiv and malaria combined every single year, but there have not been good technologies to address it. these same communities typically lack access to electricity. what we have been able to do is generate electricity from the heat of these wood fires and use that first to reduce emissions so we can keep people's health intact, and second, provide them the economic benefit of electricity to charge mobile phones, which have ever-increasing rates of penetration in these markets to charge led lights at night. stove came about by our users in the u.s. saying, "hey, that is useful for us, too . oh >> you can use it while you go camping. >> you can use it while he go camping. use it in your backyard.

it is a great tailgating product . the reason we chose to launch on er is it is really our users that informed us we misunderstood a large need that they had for grilling in groups and these more social not quite as far from the beaten track settings. >> what does it cost? >> the base camp stove is $300. >> what is your next goal? >> we never expected to go this far this quickly. our first goal was $45,000, and we cleared that in the first 17 minutes of the campaign. quite a testament to the dedication of our users, and the power of these new marketing platforms. >> thank you very much for joining me. biolite cofounder and chief executive. that does it for "taking stock." thanks and have a good evening. ♪

♪ >> live from pier 3 in san francisco, welcome to the late edition of "bloomberg west," where we cover the global technology and media companies that are reshaping our world. i'm cory johnson. is headed toward evaluation of $10 billion. big question -- is it worth it? critic's on both the left and right are alreadyp